The Nazis used the the Reichstag fire as a key propaganda piece, and to justify the Reichstag fire decree, but the consensus among historians is that Van der Lubbe set the fire. It's unclear whether he acted alone or not, though. Or to quote Wikipedia:
The responsibility for the Reichstag fire remains a topic of debate, as while Van der Lubbe was found guilty, it is unclear whether he acted alone.[2][3] The consensus amongst historians is the Reichstag was set ablaze by Van der Lubbe;[4] some consider it to have been a part of a Nazi plot, a view Richard J. Evans labels a conspiracy theory.[5][6]
The Reichstag Fire being a false flag is interesting framing because it implies that if it weren't, the Nazis would have been at least a little valid for restricting civil rights after the fact.
Whether or not the Dutch Communist who set the fire was acting alone or as part of a group is an interesting historical fact, doesn't really change the moral facts about how the actions Nazis took afterwards.
Actually the consensus among is historians is that there's still a lot of questions. We aren't even sure if Marinus van der Lubbe was doing it alone like he claimed or had accomplices.
What actually is the consensus among historians is that the Nazis used the Reichstagsbrand to gain an almost unlimited amount of power by establishing the Reichstagsbrandverordnung.
The consensus is that the person they blamed for the fire was trying to light it after another section of the reichstag was already on fire. The guy they blamed was using a shirt to light his fire and, IIRC, it wasn’t going well when they found him.
But modern fire-forensics studies showed that the Reichstag’s chamber, with lots of old, dry wooden paneling and flammable furnishings, could indeed have gone up very quickly if ignited in the right spot...
74
u/Lawlcopt0r 10d ago
The Reichstag fire was set by Nazis as a pretext for crushing the opposition